1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable office incorporating a portable computer, printer, phone, related power supply and implements, and more particularly to an improved carrying case arrangement to protect, organize, and store all of the component parts for easy movement from place to place and easy set up at a user selected place.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable computers present a self contained unit including keyboard, memory, display and CPU. Some models include a modem to transfer data and fax information to telephone lines.
None of the models provide an integral printer device to provide a hard copy of compiled information for the user, such as a sales person, to present to a prospective customer.
Prior solutions are shown in one or more of the following U.S. Patents.
______________________________________ 4,790,431 James W. Reel et al. December 13, 1983 4,796,735 Yutaka Horiuchi January 10, 1989 4,837,590 Glenn R. Sprague June 6, 1989 5,010,988 Lauren Brown April 30, 1991 ______________________________________
These attempts to solve the need for a portable office do not fulfill the entire needs.
The soft sided carrier fails to provide adequate protection for the electronic equipment while being transported from place to place. Sharp corners may push against the soft side and then against the equipment with a chance of damage to the electronics. Even the solutions with state of the art soft padding fail to provide the ridged surface required to dissipate the energy from the intense blow of a sharp object. Further, the closing means for soft sided carriers usually incorporate a zipper. The zippers, strained with the weight of the equipment and the stress of movement from place to place, usually fail. A catastrophic failure in the zipper may result in dumping the electronics onto the pavement or inadvertent loss of items in the carrier.
The prior art solutions incorporating a hard sided carriers protect the equipment but are configured to provide a raised platform for the computer and its keyboard. This raised position is exaggerated even more when the portable office is used on a desk. Because of the raised position the user has to reach over the edge of the carrier to access the keyboard. Because the keyboard is stationed in the rased platform above the surface of the desk, the use of the keyboard may inflict long term damage to the user in the form of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Thus there has long been a need for an arrangement utilize a ridged protective case in a configuration which minimizes the height of the keyboard above the available work surface.
Further, it is also desired that, in order to allow convenient use of the portable office, the main body of the carrier should sit upright on the working surface so that the hinged side of the carrier, upon which the computer and keyboard are mounted, may be unlatched, dropped down onto the working surface whereby the user may access the keyboard at the level of the working surface. The upright portion of the portable office should be accessible to allow convenient use of the other items contained therein.
Further, it is also desired that, in order to allow easy movement from place to place, the material from which the portable office is fabricated be, of course, not only ridged (as a composite or layers) but also lightweight.